KANSAS CITY -- Sunday started with the Royals finding out around 10:30 a.m. CT that their originally scheduled night game was being moved up three hours to 3:10 p.m. because of rain coming in the area. Most were still finishing their coffee at home or wiping the sleep from their eyes, only to head to the ballpark much earlier than they had planned. In starter Seth Lugo’s case, he literally woke up to a phone call from manager Matt Quatraro telling him of the change.
The day ended with a thrilling comeback win, an 11-9 walk-off victory in 10 innings on Lane Thomas’ three-run home run that capped a sweep of the Angels at Kauffman Stadium.
All worth the wait after a very long day at the ballpark.
The Royals trailed by six runs in the second inning with an uncharacteristic start from Lugo, who allowed seven runs on a career-high 14 hits. They watched the tarp get pulled on the field with no outs in the seventh inning, two runners on and Bobby Witt Jr. representing the tying run at the plate. They sat through a 1-hour, 29-minute rain delay.
They were down to their last out twice.
The outcome? A statement win the Royals have needed during an 11-17 start to the season.
“That’s why no one should ever give up on us,” Witt said. “The guys we have in here. Because of how relentless we are and how we know who we are, we know what type of team we are, and we’re just going to keep proving it.”
After Lugo allowed six runs in the first two innings, he kept the Angels from adding on and pitched 6 1/3 innings, allowing the Royals' offense to begin its comeback. They scored a run in the fifth, two in the sixth -- on Witt’s first home run of the year -- and two in the seventh before the delay.
During that delay, Jac Caglianone took a 15-minute power nap on the chair at his locker, hoping that none of his teammates would mess with him. When he woke up, he ate a quick meal and headed to the cage to watch the hitters who were already in the game take some swings. Once the game restarted, he jumped in the cage, ready for an opportunity.
“Just staying loose,” Caglianone said. “Make sure the legs are moving. You never know when they’re going to call on you to pinch-hit.”
It came in the eighth when he pinch-hit against right-hander Ryan Zeferjahn, only to strike out on four pitches. Another opportunity awaited him in the ninth. The Royals trailed by two after Vinnie Pasquantino’s two-out triple and Salvador Perez’s RBI single. Caglianone would face a lefty this time, a matchup the Royals have avoided because the 22-year-old entered the day with a .513 OPS against lefties compared to his .800 OPS against righties.
Against Drew Pomeranz, Caglianone flipped the script, turning on a fastball up and in and sending it a Statcast-projected 409 feet out to the right-field-corner seats for a game-tying two-run home run. Once it was called fair, Caglianone pointed at a fired-up Royals dugout.
“If it was foul, it would have been real awkward,” Caglianone said. “It was pretty cool. Seeing the guys get fired up in the dugout was super special, too.”
After the Angels reclaimed the lead in the 10th, Maikel Garcia worked a two-out eight-pitch walk against lefty Joey Lucchesi to bring Thomas to the plate.
He showed why the Royals love having him face lefties, sending a sinker to the left-center seats for his first home run of the year and his “signature moment” so far with the Royals, Quatraro said.
“There’s so many guys rooting you on,” Thomas said. “And it just felt good to come through for them.”
In Royals history, there have only been two other instances where there have been multiple game-tying or go-ahead homers with two outs in the ninth inning or later in a game: June 17, 2012 (Billy Butler in the ninth and Yuniesky Betancourt in the 15th) and Aug. 27, 1987 (Bo Jackson in the ninth and George Brett in the 10th).
Nothing has been easy for these Royals in 2026. During their eight-game losing streak recently, multiple players commented on the fact they needed a spark. One not just for the moment but one they could build on, too.
It came on Sunday in more ways than one.
“We got a long way to go,” Lugo said. “We’re not quite where we want to be this year. But today showed the resilience that we’ve shown for the last few years playing at The K. We're never done until the last out’s made.”